The latest college athletic scandal has a deep well of culprits, all of whom are taking their hit since ESPN reported Sunday of a windfall of gifts and cash bestowed on one-and-done USC guard O.J. Mayo.
The NBA's one-year rule is quickly being exposed as riddled with deficiencies. Coaches, administrators, agents and go-between-man/walking ATM Rodney Guillory are all under fire and that's fine. But don't waste any scorn on Mayo himself, because it's misplaced.
I have no problem with Mayo or anybody else in his position walking away with whatever he can get. This is a kid who's been treated like a commodity throughout his high school career. He's been watching others work to profit off his talents for years. For him to do anything else would be surprising.Today's Must Reads
To call what Mayo did "illegal" or "wrong" is incredibly shortsighted. If the allegations are true, he didn't break the law, he broke NCAA rules. And there's nothing more bogus or hypocritical than the NCAA bylaws.
The history of amateur athletics is about guys in suits getting rich off the sweat of guys in shorts, and about the only place that system is still working is in college sports.
If all the colleges did was sell their tickets and their television rights, maybe that could be rationalized. But, it's gone beyond that, for years.
Start with the licensing, the video games with college players that the kids don't get a dime out of.
The bottom line is that the NCAA and its member colleges have been acting as a professional sports organization for years. This year they even got into the lucrative secondary ticket reselling market. The only difference between the colleges and the pros is that they're not paying the talent.
Is that the solution? It leaves a bad taste for me. Once you start paying the players it's not really college sports any more. But maybe that concept is already long gone, at least when it comes to football and basketball.
The idea that the free room and board should cover it falls way short. That's around $40,000 at a major private college. Coaches are making millions. Administrators are in the six figures. Heck, a Northeast Conference sports information director makes more than that.
I don't have an easy answer, but that doesn't mean the system isn't broken. There are a lot of bad guys in this scenario. O.J. Mayo just isn't one of them.
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3 months ago
I totally agree with a lot of this. I'm definatly a proponent of paying the players (not a lot, but some type of stipend) and re-writing the rules so that benefits and such make more sense (one of the most glaring instances is when the Utah coach was cited because he bought a pancake breakfast for Keith Van Horn on the way to taking Van Horn to the airport because his father suddenly died.
Please.
That said, I really hate the logic that Mayo is totally not to blame. Is he the big villian in this mess? Of course not. But sorry, for me, the idea that because his wrongdoings are less offensive than the NCAAs and some agents doesn't make Mayo's actions right. He knowingly broke the rules, and that will in turn cost a lot of people money, shame the good people at the school, etc. No, he probably didn't break the law, but so what? You break rules at work, you might not get arrrested, but you'll deal with the consequences.
So no, Mayo shouldn't be given a pass on this (Although who are we kidding, it's not like the problems of this sort are going to cause him any trouble in the draft or anywhere else, so he's going to get a pass anyway). There are a lot of steps to right the ship that is the NCAA, but one of those steps must be the players starting to do the right thing. And sorry, in this day and age, they can't plead ignorance.
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